What revolver did Michael corleone use in the Godfather

[bushmaster1313]

One of the movie sites Godfather, The - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games

says it is a Model 36 and shows this picture:

To me this does not look like a proper 36, but maybe the light shining from the back makes the space under the barrel look bigger

 

[GKC]

The lock up for the ejector rod doesn't look right to me, but then I'm not an expert on revolvers of that period. I will say that it was and is quite common for prop masters to create fake guns for use in filming, for a variety of reasons.

 

[Lt JL]

looks like a Colt D frame.

 

[rick1085]

The revolver is shown really well in the attached clip.
The godfather Pete clemenza - Psychology of a murder - YouTube

 

[Ray]

It´s not a Colt.
regards, Ray

 

[Donn]

Looked like a Colt Detective Special to me.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

A S&W Terrier perhaps? Or just a Chiefs Special. In the book he used a .22.

 

[old bear]

I don't believe it's a Colt, as Colts did not use an ejector rod support on most of their revolvers. Neither do I believe it's a Smith and Wesson product based on the LARGE ejector rod support.

Perhaps a knock off made in Spain?

Now let's get out the popcorn.

 

[Arc Angel]

Look at the yoke assembly, and the timing notches in the cylinder. It's definitely a Smith & Wesson. The grip has been modified with both tape and some sort of added extension has been taped onto the bottom of the butt. The extractor rod and locking bolt housing are also of S&W design.

It's a 38 Special caliber, Model 36, 'Chief's Special'. That gun was born noisy; and, personally, being a Sicilian, myself, I wouldn't have fooled around with any (actually unnecessary) snub-nosed revolver. Instead, I would have ordered a, 'nice steak' and used one of the table knives on, 'the Turk'.

Here ya go!

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I doubt that the hammer is original, and maybe not even stock S&W. To my eye, also, there seems to be too much room between the ejector rod and the barrel. Basically, I agree with old bear.

 

[NYlakesider]

Look at the yoke assembly, and the timing notches in the cylinder. It's definitely a Smith & Wesson. The grip has been modified with both tape and some sort of added extension has been taped onto the bottom of the butt. The extractor rod and locking bolt housing are also of S&W design.

It's a 38 Special caliber, Model 36, 'Chief's Special'. That gun was born noisy; and, personally, being a Sicilian, myself, I wouldn't have fooled around with any (actually unnecessary) snub-nosed revolver. Instead, I would have ordered a, 'nice steak' and used one of the table knives on, 'the Turk'.

Here ya go!

While you MIGHT be right about the gun, you are wrong about the knife attack, while you are carving up "the Turk" the police captain/bodyguard would have put a bunch of holes in you.

Either the movie or the book I do not remember which said they had a special tape to put on the gun to preclude having identifiable finger prints!

PS my father was FBI (Full Blooded Italian)

 

[DWalt]

It's definitely a .38, and has a five-chamber cylinder. Likely a Chiefs Special. It also has football target stocks, can't be seen well due to tape covering the grip, but the large football is very visible on the left side. I don't think there were ever any I or J-frame football target stocks made, so stocks were probably for a K-frame adapted to the smaller frame. Ramp front sight would probably make it from 1952 or later.

Another thought - I think that scene was supposedly set in the few years just following WWII (mid-late 1940s). So a Chiefs Special would have been an anachronism, as would be the target stocks.

 

[cmort666]

It's unlike any Colt that's ever been made.

It's possibly a S&W or a knock-off like a Taurus, INA, or Rossi.

A grade school friend (who later became a drug dealer and user) had an INA Tiger .32 that looked very much like it.

 

[cmort666]

Another thought - I think that scene was supposedly set in the few years just following WWII (mid-late 1940s). So a Chiefs Special would have been an anachronism, as would be the target stocks.

1. In the movie "Verna, USO Girl" starring Sissy Spacek, '70s era GIs at a training site stand in for WWII GIs... M16A1s with red blank adapters and all.
2. I recently saw a documentary about Mussolini in which some of his Black Shirts, prior to the March on Rome, are carrying M1 Carbines.
3. On the same channel as 2 above, I saw '20s and '30s gangsters with (I believe) Beretta 92s and L frame Smiths.

To a lot of movie makers, "anachronism" is the producer's girlfriend.

 

[DWalt]

Gun anachronisms in movies are very common. How many old Westerns have you seen with 1870s cowboys using M92 Winchesters? Remember the M1917 Browning and the M1903A3 in "The Wild Bunch?" I will say that more recent movies have become much better at using prop guns contemporary to the period of the film.

 

[kimporter]

looks like a 36,even has a flatlatch

 

[snowman]

I don't think there were ever any I or J-frame football target stocks made

DWalt,

I may just be misunderstanding you, but I have two pairs of J-frame football targets(from factory), and have seen many more. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Regards,
Andy

 

[BC38]

It's definitely a .38, and has a five-chamber cylinder. Likely a Chiefs Special. It also has football target stocks, can't be seen well due to tape covering the grip, but the large football is very visible on the left side. I don't think there were ever any I or J-frame football target stocks made, so stocks were probably for a K-frame adapted to the smaller frame. Ramp front sight would probably make it from 1952 or later.

Another thought - I think that scene was supposedly set in the few years just following WWII (mid-late 1940s). So a Chiefs Special would have been an anachronism, as would be the target stocks.

I don't know about the availability of J-frame football targets, but I agree with Dewalt's statements about them looking very oversized. With the size of the cutout, and the length of the stocks, they sure look like a set of K-frame targets that have been adapted to the J-frame to me.

It also seems to me that ejector lug and the gap under the barrel both appear larger due to a trick of the lighting - they are silhouetted by being lit from behind.

 

[bigride]

Does anybody else think those barrel walls look a little thin?

 

[Alk8944]

While outwardly resembling a Chief's Special my vote is the gun is really a Japanese prop revolver, not a "real" gun.

It is beyond me how anyone could believe it is any model of Colt! ROFLMAO!!!!